Chip Kelly on outrushing Tigers, holding down their run game down

Chip Kelly dipped into the fast, pass-happy offense he loves Saturday night. But the UCLA coach also relied heavily on the rushing attack. The Bruins racked up 223 yards on the ground, 183 of which came in the second half.

Zach Charbonnet and Brittain Brown each tallied a rushing touchdown, but it was UCLA’s defense that made the difference. The Bruins allowed just 49 total yards on the ground, forcing No. 16 LSU to move the ball through the hair.

“It took a lot of heart,” Kelly said to Bruce Feldman after UCLA’s 38-27 victory. “It was a slugfest in the first half. I think over time we got to pop on some runs and get some things going. We obviously hit some passes that kind of got them on their heels, some big plays but we did it on all sides. 

“Really just happy with how our defense played against a good offense.” 

Up 14-10 at the half, UCLA scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put away the Tigers. The win is the biggest of the Chip Kelly era in Westwood.

After hearing that he was not back at full health, UCLA quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson led the Bruins to the upset in the Rose Bowl. He finished the day 9-of-16 through the air for 260 yards and three touchdowns. Thompson-Robinson carried the ball 13 times for five yards, too.

A Michigan transfer, Charbonnet has been a welcome addition to the UCLA run game. With a powerful running style, he can run between the tackles or break outside.

LSU lost the battle at the line of scrimmage

UCLA rushed for 210 yards and two touchdowns on 47 carries. LSU rushed for 49 yards and zero touchdowns on 25 carries, which is less than two yards per carry. The Tigers could not get the rushing attack going, and a lot of that was due to offensive line play. Charbonnet and Brown combined for 213 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries.

“First of all, they play physical football,” Orgeron said to reporters following the game. “They’ve got a better offensive line. They’ve got two good running backs that are very physical so tonight they played physical football. That doesn’t mean it’s any excuse for not playing physical. We should have been better on both sides of the football and we weren’t.”

Orgeron did not say that UCLA played tougher than UCLA, but he did acknowledge that his Tigers must be more physical moving forward.